Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Looking back on the season the Detroit Red Wings have had this year, most all of you reading this had the same lingering thought in the back of your minds coming into the game tonight as the Wings hosted the defending Cup champ Kings: We need this game so bad...and the bottom is going to come right out of us. You wouldn't get much argument based on the trends the Wings have followed all year, they haven't been a great team like in years past, and have had battled inconsistency all year long.

But the team that hit the JLA ice tonight, same as the one that we saw on Monday, did not let the trends define them. This Red Wings team came to play, and played to win.

Detroit saw themselves facing a 1-0 in the 2nd period of this evening's game against Los Angeles, and instead of hoping for the best and falling short, as many times this season they have, this team got angry. This team out worked their opponents in almost every aspect of the game. This team turned he tides of battle in their favor and came out on top, responding with 3 unanswered goals to roar back over the course of the remainder of the game and claim a 3-1 victory, and move back into the 8th and final playoff spot in the West.

Leading the charge was the resident magician, Pavel Datsyuk, with a slick move to bring the puck out in front of him around and LA defender, and sweep a backhand cleanly through Kings goalie Jonathan Quick's five-hole for the tying goal. Datsyuk's goal would be followed in the 3rd period by Jordin Tootoo, who got a wicked deflection off a Patrick Eaves shot from the point, fooling Quick for the go-ahead goal. Finally, Wings fans were treated to a Mule feeding, as Johan Franzen received a superb pass out in front from Henrik Zetterberg just left of the LA net. The Kings would pull Quick in the dying stages of the game, but it was obvious they weren't as hungry for the points as Detroit, as they waited until there was only around 45 seconds left in the game to pull him.

The Wings seem to finally understand what is at stake, and are playing as if they truly want to make the playoffs. Had we seen this type of play from them earlier in the season, we likely wouldn't be in the mess we're in now, but it's irrelevant now. We're here, and we need to win. So far this week, that's exactly what we've done.